Retakee

• 

  How It Works

Inspiration

One day I saw a new construction site near where I lived, and I thought it would be cool to have a timelapse of it. However, since construction projects can take years, I didn’t want to deal with the hassle of setting up equipment every time I passed by.

What it does

The idea is simple: an app that helps you take consistent photos. Whenever you happen to pass by, just snap a picture - no equipment or planning needed. Just do it at your convenience.

Also, as an indication of the direction I'd like to take Retakee in the future, I added Portrait Mode as a last minute update. You can just import your existing photos and get an amazing timelapse with your face perfectly aligned!

How I built it

I’ve always wanted to learn iOS development, so I saw this as the perfect opportunity. I built Retakee using Swift and SwiftUI.

Challenges I ran into

The process of developing an iOS app was more restrictive than I expected. One of the biggest challenges I faced was navigating Apple’s documentation. You can find weird niches where it is oddly specific and detailed, even with example code, but then you have some basic things that are undocumented or just straight off don’t work.

Also, if I were to give advice to someone starting out: Don't start with a custom camera. Something more straightforward might be a bit more enjoyable.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

In the first few days, I was tempted to call it a day and return to web development. But I pushed through, and looking back, I’m really proud of how much I learned and accomplished. It felt unnecessarily complicated to write even a simple thing at first, but I guess it was just the fact that I forgot how it feels to start learning something entirely new.

Also, now I can say that I have an app in the App Store, which just sounds cool :D

What I learned

I’ve learned a lot throughout this process. From learning Swift, understanding what ASO means, to facilitating in-app purchases with RevenueCat, this project has been a great learning experience.

What's next for Retakee

As for the future, I’m really excited about where Retakee is heading! What I’ve built so far is just the foundation on which I can build all the cool ideas I came up with before and during the implementation. From improving the assistance during photo retaking, adding additional project types (each helping in a different way to best suit the project) to improving the quality of the final video.

So I’m definitely not short on ideas. Quite the contrary! And because this app is also a bit of a passion project I personally love to use, I’m hoping to continue working on it for quite some time, no matter the outcome.

If you'd like to find out more about Retakee, you can head over to the official website.

Thanks for your time and for letting me introduce you to Retakee!

Built With

• ios
• revenuecat
• swift
• swiftui